MVCTC Aspire News - World Refugee Day Celebrated at St. John’s ESOL

07/29/2019

MVCTC's Aspire Program and Welcome Dayton hosted World Refugee Day (WRD) on Thursday, June 20 from 10 am-1 pm at St. John's UCC 515 E. Third Street. ESOL classes begin at St. John's at 9:30 am, at which time our community resources that included Miami Valley Fair Housing, Catholic Social Services of Miami Valley, Dayton Police Department, Premier Health Breast and Cervical Screening, WSU's LEAP program, Dayton Metro Library, WSU Boonshoft School of Medicine students, Sinclair ESOL, Welcome Dayton and St. John's ESOL program provided promotional information to the students and community. We had over 130 people at-tending, including many community members, students, volunteers and two of our local news media. Given half of St. John's student population is made up of refugees, St. John's UCC ESOL program was a natural selection for a location for the event. Students and community participated by bringing in food, dancing, singing and sharing stories of their journey from their home country to the US. The Burundi dancers inspired our WRD participants to dance through their fashion show. The DJ provided the music, but our students and guests provided the energy. Anthony from South Sudan sang a beautiful refugee anthem and Rose Lokwang from South Sudan spoke of her journey, focusing on her educational journey from a GED to now working on a PhD. In addition to assisting in planning the event, Welcome Dayton provided 100 lumpia (Filipino-style egg rolls) from the HaolePino Hawaiian-Filipino food truck, Kroger gift cards for a drawing, and drinks for the day. The MVCTC Aspire St. John's staff were incredible hosts for the event!